Imperfect Tense
by moon maiden of time
Summary: -implied SasuNaru- There is a legend of a thousand paper cranes and their ability to grant wishes. What would you do for the happiness of those you consider family?


Title: Imperfect Tense

Fandom: Naruto

Rating: T

Pairing: implied SasuNaru (main), various others

Summary: There is a legend of a thousand paper cranes and their ability to grant wishes. What would you go for the happiness of those you consider family?

Author's Notes: OMG this thing is long. Spoilers until like chapter 500 or something. I hope you like!

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imperfect tense: (noun) a tense of verbs used in describing an action that is on-going

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Naruto waits.

On top of the Konohagakure gate, he can see the chaos in the village. Missing nin had slipped their way into the village, so many that the shinobi in the village could not handle it. He sees the spread of pandemonium, the smoke and fire and broken buildings—people—spirits. He shuts his eyes, only for a fraction of a moment, and curses beneath his breath.

There are simple truths in life; that, he has accepted. Things like, I will be Hokage. Things like, I will be loved. Things like, I will be a powerful ninja. Those had been the truths of his childhood. There had been even harsher truths: I am alone; the village hates me; I don't understand.

The truths are even simpler now and also harder to bear. He will protect Konoha at any and all costs. And: he wants Sasuke home, in the village, as a citizen, as a shinobi, by his side. He will do whatever he can to maintain these truths.

It's unfortunate that he knows Sasuke's truths. Or rather, truth. Sasuke will only come back to Konoha in order to watch the heads of the council roll; he will only do this after killing Naruto.

Like them, their truths are contrary. There's no possible way to achieve both.

Hokage, ha. If only. It had been possible, but oh so far out of reach. These? Not happening.

Naruto knows what will happen and that is why he waits, balanced on the top of the gate as his world crumbles around him. It is only when he feels the flicker of familiar chakra that he turns the slightest bit.

"Hello, Sasuke," he says and smiles, an expression more of grief than of happiness.

Sasuke, as always, says nothing, merely lunging in with his chokuto, chakra already sparkling around the blade. He should have figured; Sasuke never was one for hellos or goodbyes or even emotions, that bastard. Naruto dodges the point of the blade and curves around with his kunai at the ready.

It is always and never, this fight. The seconds drag out into years; it's all punch-dodge-feint-kick-hit, moves anticipated and avoided decades before they're even put into action. Sasuke's face is a mask, his motions methodical and precise; he has never pulled his punches, and he will not do so in this fight either, though they both know what will happen if the other does not back down.

Naruto ignores the Kyuubi's irritated curses and pulls on the redhot chakra, filtering it through him. So much, and it's already pulling at his skin, blood defying gravity to drip upwards. He feels the tug of Sasuke's chakra on his skin, feels the slice of a blade against flesh. The Kyuubi's yells seem to echo in his head, but Naruto continues to draw the chakra into his body and into the battle. There's simply not enough for healing right now. Later…there is always later.

Blood is drawn on both sides. Chakra sparkles and disperses. Blades ring out as they clash together. Naruto can only focus on dark eyes and a blank face and the moves he had once known so well; this fight, it's all Sasuke Sasuke Sasuke.

And then finally, there's an opening. A split second, and Naruto knows he will have to let down his guard to do this. Sasuke's eyes flicker with this same knowledge and they charge at each other. Naruto feels the scrape of chokuto against his ribs, feels the charged static of chakra pull at his skin, feels the blood rush in to fill the suddenly empty space. Naruto's kunai hooks under Sasuke's ribs and goes up, the blade sliding in as if Sasuke's skin is simply warm butter.

Sasuke jerks once, blood spilling from between pale lips, dribbling down his chin. His grin is bitter and bloody, red crawling the spaces between his teeth. He jerks the chokuto from Naruto's chest and falls backwards, the kunai still stuck in his flesh. Naruto wobbles and falls, the world spinning around him. He can hear the Kyuubi cursing violently at him and can feel the sluggish churn of red chakra in him. It will not be enough.

And yet, it is enough. He turns his head the slightest bit and sees Sasuke in the clear spots of the black dots that cloud his vision. He wants to shake Sasuke and say, Hey, bastard, and tell him all of the things he couldn't before because of lack of words or understanding.

To a litany of curses from the fox, the world gives one more sickly spin and those black dots completely overtake him. Oh, well, he figures. He can always tell Sasuke those things later. Later— his very own secret— and a smile graces his face as he passes out.

He wakes to a world blurred by ashes, smoke, and—pink hair? "Wha—?"

"Oh, gods," a familiar voice shouts. "He's awake, Tsunade. He's awake!"

This isn't right, he thinks, but he can't place why. The Kyuubi's familiar bubbling chakra feels slick and hot against his skin, but there's cool chakra flooding his body, making everything whole and together and healthy. There are voices shouting to each other around him, but he can't make out the words.

He blinks and catches the sparkle of bright green glass, but it burns his eyes so he turns his head. And…there's Sasuke, lying on the top of the gate as if he's napping. (The stupid bastard, why's he napping?) There's an ANBU crouched next to him, the painted mask pale in the daylight. (He's somehow pissed off Tsunade or Kakashi—again—or has done something stupid, hasn't he?) Naruto reaches out an unsteady tendril of chakra and encounters nothing. Nothing, nothing is there where's Sasuke's lying although Naruto knows for damn well sure there should be a familiar, steady chakra right there.

Despite the shouts (both in his head and out), Naruto jerks up. He pushes past Sakura and Tsunade, takes out three Jounin, and sends Sasuke's ANBU guard flying off the gate before Tsunade knocks him unconscious with a flick of her finger.

When he wakes again, it's to a plain white ceiling and the monotonous beeping of hospital machines. This can't be right, he thinks absently. Or if it is…

And ignoring the pain, he reaches out with chakra and feels for the one's he's looking for most. Just as back on the gate, there is nothing where there should be something and that is all levels of wrong. In tune with the Kyuubi's cursing, the snake of chakra snaps back to him. The Kyuubi continues to curse at him, but it is easy enough to ignore.

It is when Sakura enters the hospital room and joins in with the chatter that he has to listen to one or the other. Sakura's voice is calm, her hands steady, but the color of her eyes is more like the sheen of green glass and less of the pretty sparkle that he remembers from the Academy. She talks about small things, easily avoiding the big space between the two of them.

He asks her plainly, "What happened to Sasuke?" and then her fingers tremble and her lower lip wobbles, but she just looks away and says nothing. That is his answer. Instead, she softly starts going on about the injuries of their peers, as if that will distract from the sheer wrongness of the situation. Her words pause and her eyes slide away again and then she hesitantly tells him that Iruka-sensei is dead, killed while trying to protect his students.

Naruto doesn't know what to say to that. Now he is the one looking away from her and trying to put all his thoughts in order.

She takes this as her sign and he has to look at her when she starts speaking. "What were you thinking, Naruto?" she says softly, sadly. "You should have had backup. If we hadn't found you in time…" and she trails off there, all those sharp-edged, obvious words momentarily failing her. However, she lifts her chin, takes in a deep breath, and says, "You would have died, Naruto. Without Tsunade's help, you would have been…gone." She twists her hand together in her lap.

"Sasuke left us," she continues bitterly. "There are people that need you here." One hand hovers, hesitates, and then finally settles over his. "You would have died and so many people would have been lost." There are tears choking her voice now.

Naruto looks away again. There is a small vase of flowers on the stand next to his bed; these flowers, they are fragile, purple blossoms. Hinata probably left them, he guesses. When Sakura removes her hand to cover her tears, he sighs. He didn't want to hurt her, really, but she has never understood how _they_ work. Before, all she had seen was Sasuke, and after the bastard's betrayal, all she had seen was team members and work and family.

"That was how it was supposed to be," he says lowly even though he knows she won't understand.

Just as he thinks, she looks up at him, wet green eyes going dark and angry in a glare. "What do you mean?"

He can't explain it; there are simply no words for the thing that had been between him and Sasuke. The only words he can think of are: brothers, friends, rivals, family. "It's exactly what I mean," he says tiredly. This isn't how it was supposed to go; life was never supposed to go down this dark path. "I was going to kill Sasuke; he was going to kill me."

Sakura stares at him for a long moment. Then a shutter comes over her eyes and she stands. "I don't understand," she tells him. "I just know that the Naruto I know wouldn't have done something like that."

Yes, he supposes, that is true. The Naruto she has in her head would never hurt a friend and would never, ever submit to death; the sheer idea is laughable. But the Naruto she's thinking of is the optimistic teenager who had believed some extra time training would have helped him bring his friend home and rule a country. The Naruto in front of her is the teenager that's been nearly broken by the foundation of lies that raise up his home and the best friend turned traitor that has helped start a war.

Sakura watches him as if she's waiting for an answer. He's given her all his words and answers for a long time now, but she's never been pleased by them. When he says nothing to her, she storms from the room. He gets silence for only a second before the Kyuubi is railing at him all over again, louder than before.

Later, Tsunade comes in and glares at him. She tells him of the danger he courted by doing that, the inability of his to listen to anybody at all ever, the possibility of his death if they hadn't found him, his sheer idiocy, and the gods damn it all, Naruto, why did you do that? Then she's glaring at him some more and her eyes are tearing up, but he knows what should have happened and what really did happen.

Then she frowns and goes, "Sakura told me what you said to her." She pauses. "Why did you say that?" Her voice is tight, as if it is a string that has been stretched and stretched and stretched.

"Because it's true," he answers simply. "I was supposed to die with Sasuke."

Tsunade rubs at her eyes with one hand. "You sound just like that old pervert," she says lowly.

But then she straightens and rattles off a list of things he can do, can't do, and for the love all of things Naruto, stay in this damn bed for a few days. Professional-like, she leaves with straightened shoulders and dry eyes as if she had never shown him a slice of the real Tsunade. He lies in the bed and stares up at the ceiling, wondering when exactly everything went wrong.

Three days later, he's let out of the hospital. The village is in ruins, but the people are rallying for this new cause of war. These people, betrayed by their own, call for the Shinobi Alliance and the Fourth Great Shinobi War. When Naruto passes them in the streets, these people, they watch him with awe and whisper his name. When he finally does ask an old lady why she's bowing to him, she replies that he killed the traitor Uchiha and helped save the village. Naruto merely clenches his fists and continues on his way. They don't know or understand, he tells himself.

Days pass and missions spiral out longer and longer. He sees his peers becoming harder and harder, any heart they've had being hidden away from the threats. (The only one who doesn't do so is Hinata, but instead of becoming harder, she simply becomes weary.) The Jounin are becoming even scarier, their eyes empty of everything save the mission. (Naruto sees Kakashi-sensei. If the man had seemed damaged in the past, he's now completely broken, an empty shell. Kakashi says it was Iruka who held him together, Naruto connects the pieces, and then they start going out and drinking together in broken companionship.)

The Kages fight over what to do. The Akatsuki and their army continue to attack, wearing down everyone's defenses. People die. Time passes.

Sometime between then and now, Tsunade is able to get a breath and tell Naruto that Sasuke was placed with his family in their plot. He hunts the place down in an open graveyard and cleans the weedy area. Sasuke's name is freshly carved there and he wonders why Tsunade allowed such a thing. The stone is bare, stark, and it reminds him too much of the Sasuke he faced on the wall of Konoha.

He goes to the Yamanaka flower shop and picks out an open blue flower with a bright yellow center. They're called anemone japonica, but that means nothing to him. A pale, tired-looking Ino gives him a funny look when she rings up the bouquet. She asks, "What are these for, Naruto?"

"Nothing," he says as he pays. "Why?" And then he asks, "What are they?" because she's still giving him that shrewd, narrow-eyed look.

"Wind-flowers," she says, wrapping them up. "As they die the petals blow away in the wind." Then her hands pause and she goes, "You're not giving them to Sakura-forehead, are you?"

"No," he answers frantically and then runs away.

The flowers are pretty, graceful lines against the stone of the Uchiha plot, but he only does it this once because he knows Sasuke would just scoff at him and his sentimentality, even though he thinks these wind-flowers are appropriate. Even without the flowers, he starts coming there every morning, wiping the dew away from the stone and drawing his fingers along the characters of Sasuke's name.

People will stare at him as he walks by, a tall blonde in a long white coat, and he wonders if they're thinking of his father. Sometimes he'll see a little old woman with bunches of flowers as she walks through the graveyard. She'll dip her head in a nod and she'll give him a sad smile before continuing on her way.

One night over sake, after Kakashi gets back from another several month long mission (looking even emptier than usual, as if he's draining away whatever's left of his heart and soul in these missions), he tells Kakashi of his morning ritual. Kakashi mumbles something about the Memorial Stone and the Umino plot, but then the words drift off as he looks at Naruto with one blank, blue eye.

"You weren't supposed to turn out like this Naruto," he admits hoarsely.

Naruto merely throws back another cup of sake.

More time passes and the casualty list in this war continues to grow. Naruto doesn't move up in rank, though more and more people look to him for direction and leadership. And then news of a freaky Kabuto/Orochimaru man-fusion start to crop up and Tsunade throws herself into missions. It's during one of these that she gets injured. Thankfully, it's nothing fatal, but it decreases her power significantly.

The Council badgers her until she gives up her place; she announces that Naruto will be her successor. The Council loves it, the people rejoice in it, and Naruto…feels rather indifferent. He gets a few weeks' worth of training (really, it's a crash course) and then he has to fight the deal out with the other Kages of the Shinobi Alliance. Then suddenly he is the Nanadaime of Konoha and the people look up to him as he has always wanted and he is still so damn empty without the one person he wants by his side.

When Tsunade renounces her position and moves the title to Naruto, there is a ceremony. Everyone cheers and his peers—his friends—are actually smiling for the first time in a long time. Sakura's eyes are a soft green and she slips one slender hand in his. He feels cold but squeezes her hand anyway.

He may be the Nanadaime, he may be part of the Shinobi Alliance, he may be helping fight a war, but he still goes everything single morning to the Uchiha plot. Now, he has started talking to the stark gravestone and he wonders if Sasuke can hear any of his words. Sometimes, he'll imagine what the bastard would say in response and it makes him smile.

One member of the Council hesitantly broaches the subject. He is the Kage, he can't be seen visiting the grave plot of a family of traitors, it's simply preposterous—

The Council member doesn't finish his words. Naruto tells the man he's an idiot and that it's nobody's business what he's doing, got that? His voice is low, not quite angry but hiding its ragged edges.

The Council members don't bring it up again.

The little old lady with the flowers in the graveyard comes up to him one day. "Nanadaime-sama," she says and bows her head, glossy grey strands of hair slipping forward.

"How are you, obaa-san?" he says politely and hopes one of the ANBU aren't seeing this. Tsunade's sure to rant at him later about how she gets "old hag" while someone else gets "obaa-san".

The little old lady pats his hand with one of her own. The skin is dry and cool, the fingers rough feeling. "I am fine, Nanadaime-sama." She pauses and the filmy blue eyes drift past him to the gravestone. "I have seen you here many times. A loved one?" she asks and tips her head to the side a little.

"Very loved, but very blind," he replies softly and ignores how his chest aches at the thought. "And yourself?"

"My parents," she says with a small, not unhappy smile. "I come to tell them that I am joining them soon. And you?"

He can only think of him and Sasuke competing, him and Sasuke arguing, him and Sasuke Sasuke Sasuke. "I tell him all the dreams and wishes that I had. Not for me, but for…us."

The lady's smile is kindly. "Nanadaime-sama, he may listen, but he cannot help you." The words are softly chiding, as if he should know better. As a shinobi, he probably should. "But there are others who can."

As rude as it would be, Naruto wants to laugh in her face. Him tell everybody how he wants Sasuke back? Everybody remembers Traitor Uchiha and the Rookie Nine recalls the Brooding Loner and the Signs They Should Have Seen. No, he can never tell any of them. "I can't," he explains helplessly. "They wouldn't understand."

And now he does laugh, but the sound is sharp and bitter. "It wouldn't matter anyway. These things are impossible."

"Nothing is impossible, Hokage-sama," the lady replies. One weathered hand stretches to pat him comfortingly on the cheek. "Sometimes, you must wish upon a star. The gods will look out for you," she says, as if it is any help to him at all.

He opens his mouth to say something about how it's only hard work that gets things done, these things really are impossible, wishing on stars is just a myth, but then the words lock where they are because everything stops for about a split second.

Myth, he thinks. Byakugan, Sharingan, and all the other cool, crazy Jounin and techniques out there, those are legendary. But things like Rinnegan and jinchuuriki and Uchiha Madara…now those are actual myths come to life. Is it possible? "Maybe," he faintly wonders aloud.

The little old lady smiles at him. "I'm glad you understand, Nanadaime-sama. I will let you finish here." And then she continues on her way, the red blossoms of the flowers bright against the green-grey-brown landscape.

Is this possible? Myths may be nothing, but those few cases where nothing is actually something… "Maybe," Naruto says again aloud, so soft the wind carries the sound away. He swipes his fingers over the carved characters of Sasuke's name and quickly moves out of the graveyard. He has research to do.

Time continues to pass. War goes on. The Nanadaime suddenly has a new research project that has him at the Hokage Tower at ridiculous hours of the night and morning.

The ragged, dangerous bits of Akatsuki get closer and closer. Tsunade is constantly out in the field, sending in distant reports about the freaky Orochimaru/Kabuto hybrid that's haunting the nin villages. Shino goes out on a mission and never returns. Hyuuga Hizashi comes down with illness and Hinata is pulled from the shinobi lists to take over as the head of the clan.

(Naruto hunts, hunts, hunts; nothing comes up—yet. He wishes on stars until there are silver pinpricks imprinted on the darkness behind his eyelids. He follows Konoha legend and wishes on falling leaves until he can match their sway and their shape and their colors are shades of hope.)

Kurenai has her kid. It's a little boy with her wavy, charcoal hair and Asuma's dark eyes. Sakura comes to his office to tell him about the bouncing bundle of joy and goes, "I'm going on a date with Lee." Naruto laughs and talks about Fuzzybrows just so Sakura will bunch up one fist and punch him just like old times. Then she tells him how Chouji and Ino are dating now and they're probably going to get married and it's an influx of social, friendly gossip that Naruto feels weird hearing about.

(During this meeting, Sakura leans over and brushes something from his cheek. She holds up one finger, an eyelash balanced delicately on the tip, and says, "Make a wish, Naruto." She's smiling as he blows the eyelash away so he does not think she knows what he's really wishing for.)

Shikamaru becomes an ambassador between Suna and Konoha. Naruto does it because Shikamaru is crazy-smart and Gaara doesn't seem to mind the genius; Sakura perches on his desk one afternoon and informs him that Shikamaru's really there because he has "a thing with Temari". Naruto says, "The sand chick with the crazy fans?" and goggles when Sakura agrees with a grin.

(There's one heavy research book about Kirigakure and in it there are legends about catching fishes in oceans and them granting wishes. Naruto makes a face but does it anyway—although it is only in a bay and not an ocean. He catches a fish and watches as it gapes at him; he whispers words to it, but it rolls its glassy eyes and continues to gape. Thinking back to all the times Team Seven had to catch fish in the bay, he throws the fish back and slogs back to the library. Another legend is mentioned of mermaid's tears granting wishes. He highly doubts this one, but it's possible. He decides he has to go swimming in the lake more often.)

Gai goes out on a mission and comes back with heavy scars across his face. Tenten goes out and kicks ass and kicks ass and kicks ass until she comes back after one mission, the muscles in one arm completely shredded and damaged. She takes a position as an Academy teacher, her reputation as a strict but cheeky teacher quickly forming. Sai, still always smiling, disappears, another lost shinobi.

(He starts searching through fiction sections, since nothing is coming up through the reference books. There are mentions of djinns—but he can't find any old, dusty bottles—and magic rings—another thing he can't find—and strangers, or fae, offering wishes in return for favors. He waits and waits and waits, but no stranger ever approaches him in need of a favor. He was a jinchuuriki and now he is Hokage; people rarely approach.)

Kakashi comes back from another months long mission, drained, skeletal, and paler than usual. They go out and drink and Kakashi murmurs stories of Iruka into his baijui. He looks ready to drop, but shinobi keep disappearing and nins keep attacking and there are stories about a man with red and black eyes that haunt the villages. They must fight.

(Another story tells about wishbones. Naruto breaks one in half with a confused Shizune. Another story tells about wishing wells and coins in fountains. There are no wishing wells around Konoha, but Naruto finds a few extra coins and watches them sink through sparkling water. Another story tells about demon deals. He asks Kyuubi and the damn fox laughs and laughs and laughs.)

Ino gets severe burns on her face on a mission. Kiba looses three fingers. Chouji has to use his suicide pills more than he should. Neji gets shrapnel imbedded in his arm, nearly tearing the limb from his shoulder. Sakura smiles wanly at Naruto over the sleeping Hyuuga and weakly says, "He's supposed to marry Hinata soon." She smoothes down the pale blankets, fingers steady.

(He starts asking people because books about wishes are running low. Shizune mentions birthday candles; Naruto makes note of it but can't do much more since he has to wait. Kakashi says something about sacred places, like the top of the Hokage mountain; Naruto waits until dark and climbs along the revered leaders to say what he has to at the stars. Sakura mentions the fuzzy, puffy flowers that one blows the petals of; they grow in spring, another thing he has to wait for. Teuchi at the Ichiraku tells him about monkey paws, but Naruto has no idea where to get those; his daughter Ayame mutters something about donkey's hooves, but that's another thing that's lacking in Konohagakure at the moment.)

Shikamaru comes home for a little; he's missing an eye and he can only frown with more emphasis than usual when he talks about the attacks on Suna. He visits Kurenai and baby Asuma and tells Naruto that it's distressing to see them without Asuma-sensei and stuck in war. Of course, Shikamaru only says this when they're out later and more than a few sake bottles have been consumed, so Naruto makes no mention of it. Rock Lee proposes to Sakura; she flutters and flails at Naruto, deliberating over a decision. Three weeks later, he dies in an attack on Konoha; much like Iruka-sensei, he protects his students until the end. Sakura freezes. She is a drawn shadow of herself and neither he nor Kakashi say anything when she starts joining them for their occasional drinking sessions.

(There is nothing. He starts looking through superstitions, good luck charms, anything close to wishing. Nothing, nothing, nothing he can use.)

His friends are shadows. They never smile; even Hinata, one who had always smiled, is weary and drooping like a fragile flower beaten down in a storm. He hates this damn war and all the people that have had a part in it. And still, he aches. Sasuke is gone and Sasuke will always be gone and gods, how he wishes the bastard were back.

(He hits upon a tiny book on a dusty shelve in the fiction section. It's about a girl that lived during a war on her village. One of the jutsus a foreign shinobi used caused her to come down with a strange and incurable illness. Taken care of by distraught, grief-stricken relatives, they followed village lore and started folding paper cranes. Bringers of good luck and health, the cranes would grant the wish of one who made a thousand paper cranes. The girl died before they could reach one thousand, yet her family continued grimly on. A tradesman of the village encased the thousand-paper-crane pyramid in glass and it rested on the girl's grave. Naruto figures he has nothing to lose at this point and goes out to buy origami paper and an instruction manual.)

Sakura brushes away the crumpled balls of patterned origami paper and perches on his desk to tell him that Neji is missing. Two golden engagement bands gleam on a chain around her throat, but her eyes are clear and hard like glass. She tells him that Akamaru lost a paw and Kiba half his ear on a mission. She tells him that Tsunade finally sent another letter with only, "He's getting stronger," on it. She tells him that there is another meeting of the Kages soon and Naruto can only sigh.

(23)

The Mizukage smiles flirtatiously at him and brushes his shoulder with soft fingers. The other Kages go back and forth about battle strategies and methods. They talk about the illusive dregs of Akatsuki—of the man with black and red eyes—and murmur tragedies.

(76)

Gaara corners him later and presses a kiss to him. Naruto freezes for a moment, stomach flip-flopping, and then rapidly backs away, babbling something. Gaara just looks at him with those pale green eyes and says, "Uchiha is dead, Naruto." He leaves and Naruto hates his path.

(134)

Another attack rocks Konoha while they are away. Many shinobi die; many more civilians die. When he returns his home is still a wreck. Regret curls sourly in his stomach and he flinches at the sight of the lost children in the street.

(268)

Shizune runs into his office. "Hyuuga Neji is back!" she says excitedly and runs back out of his office. He sets down the half-finished crane and sprints after her. In front of the Hokage Tower is Neji, pale and battered and scarred. He looks ready to drop and the medic nins, Sakura and Shizune leading them, circle around him, trying to determine the relative extent of his injuries. Suddenly, Hinata races around the corner. Her hair and robes are askew, her face flushed. Neji takes half of a step towards her and then stills uncertainly. Hinata finishes the distance, catching him when he collapses.

(359)

Konohamaru bolts into his office, crowing about leading his very first mission. Kiba's going to be with him, along with Chouji. Naruto does not ask about the mission details and just lets Kohohamaru babble excitedly. He can see beneath the cheer and there—there is dread, hiding in the shadows of his eyes. When he does leave, throwing a wave over his shoulder, Naruto fingers the sharp edge of a paper wing.

(424)

"Killer Bee-san and Yamato-san are missing," Shizune says and flaps the wing of a paper crane. Naruto wants to sigh, but he only takes the forms Shizune hands him and watches as she walks out of the office. Another mission, another missing shinobi. Maybe dead, maybe abducted, maybe…who knows?

(517)

Ino has not come in for a mission in a while, but that does not matter. A pale Sakura staggers into his office and sits heavily into his chair. He wants to ask, Who's missing, who's dead, but he waits. Sakura takes in a deep breath. "Ino miscarried," she mumbles, voice flat. "She hadn't told anybody, just in case, but Chouji's gone on a mission and—" Her voice cuts out and she stares blankly at him. Then she shakes herself and all the shadows hide behind the glass in her eyes. "I- I'll just be going, Naruto," and she walks out.

(693)

The gravestone is cool under his fingers. Dew's collected in the characters, but it gathers on his fingertips as he draws the name over and over and over. He doesn't even know what he's saying anymore, but the only things he can think of are black eyes and a smug smirk. The old lady does not come by anymore and he wonders if she has died. The weeds are rough as he pulls them from around the stone.

(761)

Another attack, another mass funeral. Shikamaru is there, baby Asuma in his arms, Temari at his elbow. Kurenai gone. Neji is a pale shadow at Hinata's side. Both Tenten and Kiba, along with his loyal companion Akamaru, gone. There are a slew of other shinobi—Chuunin and Jounin and Genin—that mourn over the black palls. There are civilians that cry out their grief. Naruto has to wonder if Konoha will make it out of the war alive. Sakura curls one hand around his and squeezes briefly. Her fingers are bone-thin and freezing.

(823)

The bar is quiet. Kakashi looks as if he is going to drop; Sakura is a wraith. They drink and drink and drink. Sakura throws back a cup of sake and touches the rings at the hollow of her throat. Kakashi gulps down baijui and says nothing. Naruto swirls sake around in his cup and imagines he can hear a scornful, "Dobe."

(999)

It is dark in his apartment and there are hundreds of paper cranes surrounding him. He tilts the sheet of patterned paper—fans, though not red and white, but cream and grey—and then starts to fold.

He sets down the thousandth paper crane and flaps its wings, once, twice, and then gives up to lie against the floor and sleep.

(1000)

He wakes up and the world gives a sickening spin. He can't hear the fox laughing at him and the red-hot chakra is buried deep beneath his own blue chakra. He sits up and reality lurches as he realizes something is…different. The hundreds of paper cranes that had surrounded him last night are gone; there is a lone one at his side, but it is yellowed and burned at the sharp corners as if it has been through hell and back.

Another myth down the drain, he figures and heads into his bedroom to get some real sleep before the day starts. It's as he's passing the mirror in his room that the world goes black and faint at the edges.

He…he looks eight. Maybe even seven. His hair is spiky, sticking out in every direction, and there's a frog attached to his head—the nightcap Jiraiya stole from him so long ago and got rid of. He feels…young. He thumps down on the floor as the world tilts on him.

He dives into his own head and gets stopped by a glowing seal. Fortunately, he knows which strings of chakra to pluck to the side and which to completely untangle. The roar that greets him as he wiggles through the new seal is completely pissed off.

There is no Kushina or Minato to meet him this time, just one furious fox. "You stuck me back into the damn seal!" it growls at him. And then it angrily flicks one tail at him and he goes spinning out of his own head.

He…he can't be back. There's no way. Yet, he searches through the messy apartment and he can only see signs of Uzumaki Naruto, trickster extraordinaire, not Uzumaki Naruto, Hokage. Even his hitai-ate is completely gone, pulling his age even further back.

But that means…Sasuke.

That kicks off another whole slew of thoughts: Sarutobi, Jiraiya, Iruka, all his peers, the damn war…

He races off to get a notebook and pen and scribbles down everything he needs to do to stop everything from happening as it did. There are no thoughts about letting it go as it had; he can't allow that. It's all a jumbled mess in his head, but he writes and writes and writes. Then he goes to change—in his old orange suit, green goggles placed uncertainly on his head—and then runs out of his apartment building into the breaking day.

The Uchiha complex is his destination, because if he hasn't gone back enough or if this is some sort of trick…But no. He gets there and there is life. He asks a kindly old lady sweeping the sidewalk where he can find the head of the clan. She frowns but points him in the right direction, anyway. When he gets there, he knocks politely on the door and Uchiha Mikoto answers. Her eyes soften when she looks at him, a smile almost there, and he remembers that she and his mother were friends. Then the warmth is wiped away, her face a blank mask, and she asks, "May I help you?"

"Uchiha-san," he says politely and bows. "I need to speak with Itachi-san." And gods, doesn't that burn in the back of his throat?

Before she can get another word out, Uchiha Fugaku steps to her side. He frowns sternly at Naruto and goes, "Do you know what time it is, boy?"

Instilled with the knowledge of time-worn shinobi, of war, of Hokage, Naruto draws himself up and says, "I do, Uchiha-san. But I need to speak to Itachi-san about his newest assignment."

Now Fugaku scowls and roughly says, "You know nothing of the sort. Now, leave." Fugaku makes to leave, but Naruto slams a hand onto the edge of the shouji to keep it open.

"Uchiha," he says quietly. "Let me speak to your son. Now."

Fugaku stares down at him for a long moment, but then he harrumphs and leaves. Mikoto gives Naruto a wan smile but says nothing to him.

Itachi walks up to his mother and lays one hand on her shoulder. "Is there something I can help you with?" His eyes are flatly black, not the poisonous red and black swirl Naruto remembers.

Naruto swallows down his bitterness and bows his head. "I need to speak to you, Itachi-san. It's urgent."

Itachi stares at him for one moment but then gives Naruto a slight smile—something that weirds Naruto out to no end— and says, "I will follow you." And he walks out of the Uchiha homestead to do so. They walk out of the complex and sit on a bench along the outside of the compound walls. Those black eyes cut over to him. "What did you need to tell me, nin-san?"

Of course he can tell what Naruto really is. But how far can he see, Naruto wonders? "You have a mission, don't you?" Itachi stares at him. "About protecting Konoha and stopping civil war, don't you?" Itachi says nothing, but there is a subtle shift of the tension in his jaw and that is enough of an answer. "I know you do." He pauses and stares down this young missing nin, this young killer, this young serial murderer. Protector of the village, right.

"Whatever you do, Itachi-san, refuse this mission."

And now there is something different about him, less of a listening shinobi, more of a waiting snake, ready to strike. "Is that a threat, nin-san?"

The Kyuubi rumbles darkly in his thoughts as cold chakra licks subtly over him, checking for genjutsu. "It's not a threat," Naruto answers and crosses his arms behind his head. So many pitfalls and traps here. "I know why you would do that," he explains and sees that snake-persona, that shinobi waiting to strike, vanish beneath hidden confusion.

"You want to protect your most precious person, don't you?" Of course, Itachi does not answer. Uchihas and emotions, really. Naruto continues. "You'll do this mission and spare your most precious person. You do this to save the village and this one person."

And now Naruto needs to laugh because Sasuke always always always defies people's expectations for him, either by completely exceeding them or by going in a completely different direction. Sasuke, you bastard, he thinks fondly. "You'll do this and think that you'll pass on this need to protect the village down to your most precious person." He shuts his eyes against the glare of the rising sun. "It won't work. This most precious person will go against everything and start that war. Except this war won't be a civil one. It will be another Great Shinobi War."

When he opens his eyes and looks over to Itachi, the young man is staring at him, all signs of tension gone. "I don't know where you got your information, nin-san."

Naruto shrugs and wonders how a tale of a thousand paper cranes will go over. "It doesn't matter, Itachi-san." How he wants to turn and rip this man's throat out. So much destruction and death and god, Sasuke. "Refuse the mission. Protect your family. Insist on peace."

They both pause at the flare of cool chakra and one young Uchiha Sasuke hurtles around the corner of the compound wall. "Aniki!" he yells happily, a shy smile on his face. And he races forward and runs right over to his big brother. When he does notice Naruto, his smile falters, fades, and he hides behind the shadow of his brother.

Naruto needs to turn and run, right now, or else everything will come spilling out, Sasuke, you stupid bastard, how could you do that to everyone, to the village, to me? Instead, he stands, ignores his thumping heart, and bows to Itachi. "Remember what I said, Uchiha-san."

Itachi's voice is quiet when he speaks. "Who are you?" That, that right there, would be a breach if he were any other shinobi, but Itachi knows all of ANBU and can obviously see what Naruto has not been.

Naruto gives a vulpine grin so wide it hides his eyes. "No one." And he turns and walks away.

Two hours later, when he's pacing in his room, ANBU attack. He's able to knock out two before he forces himself to stop fighting and allows them to capture him. They transport away in a puff of smoke and he's suddenly in a tiny room, strapped to a metal chair, with Morino Ibiki and old man Sarutobi. One ANBU stands behind them and Naruto knows it's fucking Uchiha Itachi.

Sarutobi whispers something to Ibiki and steps forward. "Naruto," he says kindly and Naruto wants to simply rush forward and hug the old man. Fucking Orochimaru. "I was told that you had a strange conversation Uchiha Itachi this morning. Can you tell me why you did that?"

The only reason Sarutobi is acting this kind is because it's serious. Some other small infraction and the old man would be yelling at him.

Sighing, Naruto goes with the truth. Lying would be a mistake here, though the truth is going to be no better. "He can't take this mission. He'll do it to protect the village and his younger brother." And now Naruto glares at the pale ANBU mask in the shadows. "Oi, Uchiha! What about Shisui? And Madara?"

Here Sarutobi jumps. "Madara?" he rasps. "Uchiha Madara?"

Ibiki does not look phased. "Only a legend, Hokage-sama."

Naruto bares his teeth in a snarl. "It's not. Ask the stupid Uchiha! Madara brought forth a challenge of war to him and the idiot was going to go through with the council's orders to kill his own family so Madara would do nothing to Konoha."

Sarutobi is watching him very intently and Itachi is very very still. They both know that he should be clueless about all of this. But then Sarutobi sighs and deflates. "How do you know this Naruto?"

He doesn't even give thought to the tale about cranes. Half of a lie about the Kyuubi telling him wants to spill past his lips, but he locks it tight; none of them will believe a damn thing about the Kyuubi. He hears the pissed off roar from the fox in the back of his mind and feels the surge of hatred for Madara. Perhaps…

"It's a secret."

Now Sarutobi's glaring at him along with Ibiki. "Did you hear about it from another shinobi, Naruto?"

"I'll tell you, old man," he says. "Not to the big bear," and he sticks out his tongue and blows a raspberry.

As Ibiki's glare gets even darker at this, Sarutobi steps forward and crouches down with a grunt to look Naruto in the eye. "Can you tell me this secret, Naruto?"

Naruto tries to go for a smile, all mischievous like, but it feels all wobbly and wrong. "Sure." He his gulps down his uncertainty, his failure, his everything, and says, "I know everything that's going to happen. I've seen it all, done it all. I know what Uchiha is going to do and I know it's going to be a huge cluster fuck, old man."

Sarutobi's looking at him as if he crazy—of course, this look isn't that unusual, but it's not helpful right now. Naruto leans forward, lowering his voice even more. "Do you remember your student, Orochimaru? Do you know what he's going to help do with Uchiha Madara and Itachi, orphans from Amegakure, and the jinchuuriki? Do you?"

Orochimaru is the hook here, an old student that none of the genin know about. The Uchihas are obvious, considering what he's already said. Jiraiya—another student—probably told the old man about the orphans he helped. And the jinchuuriki…well, he's not supposed to know about that either.

Slowly, Sarutobi frowns at him. "How do you know all this?"

"I've done it all already, old man," Naruto whispers furiously. "I've done it all—," and a bunch of wishing and cranes, "—and the Kyuubi sent me back."

The old man goes pale. "The Kyuubi?"

"Yes," Naruto sighs. "The Kyuubi. Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato. Jiraiya. Like I've said, I've seen it already."

Still frowning, still pale, Sarutobi stands. He's staring at Naruto as he backs up and whispers to Ibiki. Then, with a hand on Itachi's shoulder, he leaves the room, leaving the top ANBU interrogator with Naruto.

Quite a bit of what Ibiki does make Naruto flinch, whisper curses under his breath, but the Kyuubi is hot inside him, bubbling chakra patching up every wound. And when the chakra is not healing fast enough, the red-hot hatred is there, buoying Naruto up, knowing its true purpose: Uchiha Madara. Naruto does not scream and Ibiki obviously does not understand.

Time passes. Ibiki leaves. Sarutobi comes back in with medic-nins and they wheel him to a clean, pale room in which he heals. Naruto closes his eyes and sleeps to a litany of growling curses from the fox.

When he wakes, he's in a wheelchair with old man Sarutobi at his side. He smiles tremulously down at Naruto and says, "We're going to have a long talk with the Konoha Council, Naruto. Is that alright?" Naruto can't even get a word out before he's being pushed out of the room by some medic-nin.

He get wheeled into a room with the Council elders, one ANBU—stupid stupid Uchiha Itachi—, and Morino Ibiki. He gets placed in the center, facing all of them as if he's on trial, Sarutobi sits down, and then the medic-nin is at his arm and sliding a needle into the crook of his elbow. Naruto can feel the drug hit his system and the Kyuubi growls out something foul and obscene, already letting the boiling chakra chase the drug out.

"How do you feel, Naruto?" Sarutobi asks and everything slides a little to the left. Reality tilts and goes all wavy.

"…Strange," Naruto finally says without thinking. Oh shit, he realizes. Truth serums? Really? Hurry up, he yells to the fox and gets a shouted curse back at him.

"I've already told the other members about this," Sarutobi says, his words sliding right past Naruto.

Naruto looks across the table and sees Danzo. Kyuubi's still growling as the chakra rages through him, flushing out the drug.

"Naruto, I would like you tell them what you told me."

Reality regains its normal tilt when Naruto says, "I told you, old man. It's a secret."

Danzo is sitting right there. He helped Madara. He thought up the Uchiha massacre. He tried to kill Sasuke. He helped the Kage of Amegakure kill the Ame orphans which brought about Akatsuki. Carefully, Naruto starts allowing chakra to gather in one hand.

Sarutobi has gained a twitch. "Naruto," he grounds out. "You need to tell them."

"No. I've told you what you needed to know. Make peace with the Uchiha. That's all."

The pale ANBU mask turns to him as Utatane Koharu sniffs. "They are a threat to Konoha."

Mitokado Homura nods slightly. "We must eliminate the threat. The peace of Konoha as a whole is our gain here."

"Make peace," Naruto says again. "They can be allies. You have enemies right beneath your nose that are not the Uchiha."

Homura frowns at him. "And who are these people?"

Naruto feels the swirl of chakra and lets loose. ANBU appear within a flash and are holding various sharp objects to his neck as the modified Rasengen slices thought the air and hits Danzo. The bandages on his arm fall away and the multitude of Sharingan are revealed. Danzo is trying to speak as a lone pale-faced ANBU appears at his side and holds him down.

The Kyuubi is cackling at the back of his mind as the Sarutobi orders the ANBU to let go of Naruto and to contain Danzo. Itachi is joined by other ANBU in watching the fallen shinobi. Sarutobi walks gravely over to Naruto and looks at him under furrowed brows. "How did you learn that?"

Naruto stands without issue and grins without humor. "I learned it from Jiraiya."

Sarutobi sighs and Naruto can see the weight of the years on his bowed shoulders. "Come with me," he says sternly and sweeps from the room. Naruto follows, hands in his pockets.

In another room of the Hokage building, Sarutobi turns to Naruto and says, "You learned that from Jiraiya?"

"Yeah," Naruto says.

Rubbing his eyes, Sarutobi says, "Go home. Rest. I'll try to get the Council to make a truce with the Uchihas."

"Make sure it happens," Naruto says quietly. "And keep an eye on Danzo." A pause. "He always wanted to be Hokage and he's still ambitious."

"Go, Naruto," Sarutobi says tiredly.

Naruto runs home on the roofs of the buildings in order not to run into anybody he knows. He waits and plans and plots and listens to the curses of the Kyuubi. He waits and waits and waits, a lone creased paper crane with him. Time passes with Naruto just waiting in his apartment.

And then one day Sarutobi comes to his apartment and says, "A truce has been reached. There will be no massacre." Naruto smiles, but he is tired for there is so much more to do. Sarutobi watches him. "What are you going to do now?"

"I have people to meet," Naruto says and grabs the bag that's been packed for days now.

Sarutobi sighs. "Are you really leaving Naruto?"

Naruto bites his tongue, but some words escape anyway. "There is so much that's going to happen. I want to try and stop it."

"And the Kyuubi?"

"The old fox?" Naruto asks and laughs when he gets curses in a growly voice. "He's not going to do anything."

Slowly, Sarutobi nods his head and pulls out a Konoha hitai-ate from his robes. "You haven't officially passed through the Academy, but if you really are leaving…"

Removing the foreign goggles, Naruto ties the hitai-ate around his forehead. The material is cool, familiar, against his skin and it makes him smile. Formally, he bows to Sarutobi and the old man allows him to leave.

He, however, has one place to go before leaving Konoha for who knows how long. He sits on the bench outside the Uchiha compound and follows a familiar, cool chakra. He follows it…and at some point falls asleep.

He wakes to a prod against his shoulder. Two black eyes are staring down at him. "What are you doing out here?" the young Uchiha Sasuke asks him.

"Nothing," Naruto automatically fires back and sticks his tongue out in basic seven-year-old fashion.

Sasuke scowls right back at him. "You don't belong out here, dobe," says the familiar, if childishly young, voice, and Naruto wants to break.

"Fine," Naruto snaps back and heads away, blowing a raspberry over his shoulder. Sasuke's scowl goes even darker.

But when he looks back seconds later, Sasuke has his face turned away and there's the slightest upturn to his mouth. Naruto can't stop his smile and trudges out of Konoha.

First, Naruto heads to Sunagakure and finds young Gaara. It takes some time, but soon the boy can smile again, although Temari and Kankuro eye him with suspicion. Suna is interesting enough, especially with Gaara at his side, but there's something…wrong. He can't tell what exactly is wrong with this, but he makes note of it. He leaves with a smile from Gaara and a promise to be back soon.

On the outskirts of Suna, he meets with Sasori of the Red Sand. He seems rather kind outside of battle (although this may do with the initial lack of bloodlust) and Naruto tries to talk to him about Akatsuki; however, Sasori grows impatient and they fight. Sasori falls and Naruto gathers up the puppets to take to the Chiyo-baa-san he remembers Sakura telling him about.

He goes to Kirigakure. Gato is the first to fall, of course. He warns off Haku and Zabuza—Zabuza pays no attention to him, but Haku listens with concern. Sometime between talking to them and the next day, they disappear. He hunts down one Suigetsu of Team Hebi; it's an easier fight than he imagined, although he is only eight. The real challenge is after this, with Kisame. Naruto nearly looses an arm to one of Kisame's sharks, but the Kyuubi comes out to play and Kisame is nothing.

Yagura the Mizukage is thankful and accepts his alliance. Naruto mentions Konoha and wonders aloud how a truce would play out. This causes Yagura to snap about his hatred of Konoha and the Kyuubi grumbles about the slimy threads in Yagura's chakra. With the use of Kyuubi's hot chakra, Naruto fights them off and something seems to change about Yagura when they're all gone. Yagura is kind now, but confused, and the Kyuubi roars about that damn controlling Uchiha. Naruto and the Mizukage have a long talk about connecting to the jinchuuriki. He stays there to help Yagura and the Kyodaigame. All the slimy chakra brushes away with this connection and Naruto becomes an alliance to the Mizukage.

He travels around and around and around. He finds Deidara and takes the yapping idiot back to Iwa. The ANBU outside of Iwa seem confused by the small boy that randomly brings them a missing nin.

He tries hunting down the other jinchuuriki. He finds some and they are nice; Killer Bee and he rap together again and the Kage laughs. Traveling, traveling, traveling, meeting jinchuriki after jinchuuriki…and others.

He hunts down Kakuzu. This fight tears up half of a forest and Naruto is almost torn to pieces, but it works. More searching leads him to Hidan. It's not an outright fight but a piece of masquerading trickery. Hidan takes him for a nothing and does not notice the paralyzing agent in his food. The fool is the nothing and he curses Naruto when he dismembers the non-Akatsuki member and hides his various body parts. Zetsu appears to be nowhere in the shinobi world and Naruto files that away.

Amegakure is his next stop. He hunts down Yahiko/Pain. They fight and it is a disaster in the rain-splattered streets. Just like before, he has to find Nagato and reveal the truth. Nagato is not close to death as he once was, but he—eventually—accepts Naruto's words. Yahiko falls, Nagato is free, and Konan follows. The official Akatsuki is gone, but Naruto is still suspicious. Hanzo of Amegakure is dead, but the genocide has not started.

He returns to Suna. Gaara is older and there is still the pain hiding in his eyes, but he gives a sliver of a smile to Naruto. Something is still wrong in Sunagakure and the Kyuubi rumbles about the damn Kages getting all sorts of fucked up. When he splits from Gaara for a little to "adventure," he spies on the Kazekage.

The chakra is rotting and slimy and fuck it all if he hasn't forgotten about Orochimaru, that bastard. He lies in wait and then attacks when there's no one around. Orochimaru keeps up the guise of Kazekage and then abandons it when it becomes apparent that Naruto is not going to stop.

They fight and fight and fight. Naruto chases him out of Sunagakure and damn it all if they don't spend days and miles going back and forth and back and forth. It does take some time, but Orochimaru does die and it is a freeing move. They have gone far and they are close to home. Naruto burns the body in the hopes that this is the end of this particular bastard and collapses in exhaustion.

He wakes. He is twelve all over again at the end of the Chuunin exams and in the hospital. Except he is not even a genin, although he is twelve, and four years have been a long long time. Sarutobi walks into the room with Tsunade and Jiraiya behind him.

Sarutobi smiles. "It's been a long time, Naruto."

Jiraiya grins and gives a huge belly laugh. "So this is the Uzumaki brat?" He ruffles Naruto's hair and Naruto ducks his head to hide his smile at the familiarity.

Tsunade purses her mouth and whaps Jiraiya. "Stop bothering the boy."

Sarutobi ignores both his students like a good sensei and goes, "I've heard a lot about your trips, Naruto. Do you know Kirigakure is now cleaned up and an ally? And a jinchuuriki is the new Kazekage?"

Naruto grins back. "Hey, Gaara. He'll be a great ally."

Sarutobi's smile wanes some. "So you have done all this?"

"What do you think I've been doing for the past four years, old man?"

"And the ashes we found?" he counters.

"The bastard that was going to kill you and attack Konoha," Naruto answers.

Tsunade frowns, eyes narrowing as she scrutinizes him. Jiraiya's just watching, but Naruto's never been able to tell when he's actually paying attention and when he's off in Icha-Icha-Land.

Sarutobi sighs and he looks old. "Who was it?"

Naruto does not want to say, but he knows he has to. "Orochimaru."

Tsunade starts and looks like she's going to start yelling, but Jiraiya places hand on her arm and shakes his head.

Sarutobi bows his head in resignation. "Of course." Tsunade glares at him and she storms out of the room, Jiraiya quickly following her.

Naruto leans against the pillows of the hospital bed and says, "Tell me what's happened."

Sarutobi details the full effects of the Uchiha truce, but most of them go in one ear and out the other. When Naruto asks about Uchiha Sasuke, Sarutobi mentions Team Seven, Team Kakashi, with Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba. Naruto's jaw drops.

"Kiba?" he asks incredulously.

"Originally we were going to place Inuzuka on a team with Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino, but then we put Uchiha Masashi with them instead."

Naruto mouths the name to himself and realizes it is one of the saved Uchiha. "And Sasuke?" he prompts again.

"A prodigy, of course." Sarutobi glares at him under bushy eyebrows and he says, "I thought you would know this since you had 'seen it all'."

Naruto sticks his tongue out at the mocking and asks, "And Danzo? Roots?"

Sarutobi glares. There's a question there lurking about Roots, but he passes it up in order to continue. "Danzo committed suicide in Konoha prison," he sighs. "Roots was officially disbanded and all the members were placed in other active squads."

"Prison?" Naruto questions and Sarutobi continues.

"The investigation of the acquired Sharingan brought out some other things," Sarutobi says evasively and will not continue. They talk some more about the peers Naruto should have had and then Sarutobi pats him on the shoulder and leaves.

Naruto knows he should stay but cannot. Kyuubi is growling in the back of his head and there is still one Uchiha Madara to hunt down. Naruto climbs out the window and vanishes from Konoha.

The next four years are spent traveling, chasing after whispers of a man with red and black eyes. There is no war, there is no fighting. Akatsuki still does not exist and the nations are at relative peace. He catches wind of Madara and while the Uchiha has no idea why he there's, Naruto attacks. It never ends well for Naruto.

It's at the end of this four year period that Uchiha Madara gets sick of this mysterious shinobi. Naruto almost dies; it's only the churning fuel of the Kyuubi that keeps him upright enough to trudge to the nearest populated place. It's a fire temple and the monks scatter when he drops on their steps, blood dripping along the cracks.

When he wakes it is in the damn Konoha hospital again. There are two people near him, one brushing cool, chakra-lined fingers over the seal on his stomach. The Kyuubi is suspiciously quiet and Naruto jerks awake, springing across the room in seconds.

Tsunade and Haruno Sakura glare at him. Tsunade points one chakra-surrounded finger at the bed and orders, "Get back over here. I need to finish checking your seal."

Naruto prods the seal with a finger and answers her with, "It's fine, you old hag." And he grins. He doesn't even see the punch that knocks him right back out.

When he wakes a second time, there is only one cool chakra. It is still and quiet and Naruto blinks awake to Uchiha Itachi. Itachi smiles slightly at him, but there is a cloth wrapped around his eyes and Naruto winces when he remembers the bitter tale about two brothers Sasuke once spat at him.

"I wish to thank you, Uzumaki-san," Itachi says calmly. "You saved my family from destruction. And possibly, Konoha itself, if what you say is true."

Naruto coughs past the bitterness and says, "It wasn't just Konoha."

And Itachi gives a small, mysterious smile. "No. You spoke of precious people. And yours…"

They both turn their heads at the slight chakra. Sasuke has always had incredible timing, Naruto now remembers, as he sweeps into the room.

He is just as tall, as slight, as strong, as wonderful, as everything as Naruto remembers from those last few minutes of the fight that broke him. But Sasuke looks coolly over to him and dips his head in slight nod. "Uzumaki-san," he says, voice perfectly even, perfectly perfect, and Naruto wants to scream at him. "My brother and Sarutobi-san have told me about your part in the Uchiha truce. Thank you." And Sasuke is so unfailingly polite that Naruto simply wants to blow a raspberry at him and stick out his tongue just to get a proper, Uchiha Arrogant Bastard Sasuke response.

But then his thoughts catch on a thorn and he turns to Itachi. "Sarutobi-san?" he asks.

"Oh, yes, you have been gone, haven't you?" Itachi says and there's just enough condescension there that Naruto wants to hit him. "Sarutobi-san passed the title down to Tsunade-sama. She is now Godaime."

So different, and still so the same, and Naruto wants to die as he looks at Sasuke.

"Thank you," he mutters emptily and looks out the window. Uchiha Madara is still out there and he needs to leave now.

Itachi seems to catch on, that perceptive bastard, and says, "I must be going. Thank you, Uzumaki-san." Naruto catches his bow out of the corner of his eye and he leaves, moving confidently out of the room.

Sasuke watches and then turns back to him. "You were that annoying boy, weren't you?" he says in an apparent non sequitor.

"Annoying?" Naruto squawks instinctively.

Sasuke smirks and it is so like he has always known. "The one outside the compound," he clarifies. And here his eyes narrow as his smirk sharpens. "The dobe."

The two ANBU guards standing outside the door have to come in and separate the two as they're fighting. It's a rather hard task, even with the two ANBU. Sakura bustles by, sticks a sedation hypo into Naruto's neck to knock him out, scolds her irritating former teammate for bothering patients, and continues on her way.

The next time Naruto wakes up, Tsunade is there, glaring at him, and there's a tracker strapped around his ankle. Naruto screeches at her for it, but she only says, "The Sandaime left me all your files, you little brat. Time-travel, really?"

She sounds incredulous, but Naruto tells her everything she once told him and she goes white when she realizes the truth of the situation. Even so she says, "You need to stay here for observation for a while. Also, I need to check on what you're doing outside of Konoha." Her eyes narrow. "You are a shinobi of Konohagakure, after all."

Naruto squawks curses at her, but she just flicks him into oblivion.

It's dark the next time Naruto wakes and he attempts to escape. He gets roughly a mile out of Konoha before about seven ANBU tackle and capture him. They drag him back, kicking and screaming.

He gets dropped back off in the hospital; there's a pack of origami paper on the stand next to his bed with a note from Tsunade to amuse himself while he's there.

(7)

Sakura joins him at his bedside. She talks about Team Seven and her strange sensei (who's a total pervert, so poor Iruka-sensei for having to deal with that in a partner) and gods, how she used to have such a crush on Sasuke, but secretly, he's such a bastard. And then she smiles at him and says, "Why did you leave Konoha, Naruto?"

He just smiles at her and says, "Saving the world, Sakura-chan!" She bops him on the head and smiles as his resulting yelp.

(19)

Sakura comes to his room again on his last day in the hospital. She has Hinata following her, and Neji following the tiny Hyuuga. Hinata blushes and stutters her way through an introduction, but Neji places a hand in the curve of her lower back and she takes a deep breath in and her words flow smoother.

Later, as Sakura walks with him out of the hospital, Naruto asks her what happened between the Hyuuga cousins. She tells him how Hinata almost died during the Chuunin exams by Neji. Something happened between them between when Neji visited her in the hospital. She completely forgave him and Neji became…calmer, somehow more balanced within himself.

She shrugs, throws Naruto a smile. "Hinata's probably going to become the head of the Hyuuga clan, one day. And Neji will probably marry her, I think."

(87)

Naruto walks the streets and sees people. Shikamaru is at the table at the barbeque restaurant with Chouji and Ino. They're smiling at each other, closed in tight around the table. Asuma and Kurenai he sees at another restaurant. Kurenai is round with child and their ring fingers gleam with marriage bands. Shino stands in the street and Kiba blatantly attacks him; Kiba gets brushed away by bugs, falls to the ground, and yells curses as Shino nonchalantly walks off. Akamaru barks excitedly.

(153)

Naruto gets dragged out of his house by Sakura. She drags him to a restaurant and Kakashi and Iruka are there. She and her former sensei get into a debate about what constitutes a date and a friendly gathering and please, Kakashi-sensei get your hands out of Iruka-sensei's pants!

Iruka is bright red, but it fades when he looks at Naruto. "Uzumaki?" he asks. "Uzumaki Naruto?" And a shutter pulls over his eyes. Abruptly, he stands and says, "I'm sorry. I forgot a previous appointment." His smile is cold as he turns and walks away.

Naruto's stomach sinks.

(242)

Naruto makes his way to the training grounds. In the early morning Tenten is there and she fights with him. Her senbon are sharp, but it is something to do. He defeats her easily—after Akatsuki and Orochimaru and goddamn legends like Uchiha Madara—but it is still something. He practices all day, the weight of the tracker heavy around his ankle.

Sasuke shows up late at night, a cold smirk on his face. Naruto grins right back, outrageous and ridiculous and in-your-face, and they say nothing as they start fighting. The fight goes on and on and on and Naruto's stomach swoops in freefall as the fight wears on.

The fight slows, they reach a stalemate. Then Sasuke, the arrogant bastard, says, "You were too easy to defeat, dobe." Naruto punches him, Sasuke dodges, and the fight starts anew.

(361)

Sakura drags Naruto out again. They're at some little restaurant and Lee races up out of nowhere. "Sakura!" he cries, sparkles and sunbeams shining from his smile. "I needed to find you!"

Sakura gives him an indulgent smile. "For what?"

"I need to change our date time!"

Sakura's smile cracks in half and her fury rises, one eye twitching. "Again? Why?"

"I'm sorry! I have a mission!"

There are no limps, no injuries, nothing debilitating to stop Lee from having missions like Naruto remembers. Sakura sighs but lets it go and Lee speeds off.

(479)

Tsunade's the one to drag him out this time, Jiraiya in tow with her. They end up at Ichiraku, Teuchi and Ayame greeting them with pleasure. Naruto talks and talks and talks about the changes and the Sannins ask so many questions.

After they go out to one of the training fields and Naruto shows Jiraiya what the Frog Sannin taught him. Naruto sends his clones off, summons various frogs that question him relentlessly on how they have a contract, and then brings back his clones to activate his Sage Mode. Jiraiya is suitably impressed and then starts questioning him about his "real teachings". When Naruto asks, "What the hell are you talking about?" Jiraiya asks about peeping techniques.

Tsunade smacks him into unconsciousness and then lets Naruto go.

(538)

Naruto sits at the Ichiraku, watching people go by. He sees Shizune with Tonton. Sai whispers past, a quiet smile on his face. ANBU, Naruto wonders? He sees Yamato-sensei, though he's with Anko, and they're laughing and that's frightening on so many levels.

Naruto turns back to his letters. They had to be "checked" first by the shinobi. There's one from Gaara with information about being Kazekage, about his siblings, about home. He asks Naruto how he's doing and when he's going to be back. There's a letter from Yagura, detailing his joy in how the Godaime is helping Naruto heal after another one of his "adventures". There's a few from the other jinchuuriki; one is from Killer Bee and it describes another new rap. There's even a letter from Zabuza and Haku although it's appropriately disguised; they're traveling some more although Zabuza hates the desert.

Teuchi gives him another bowl of ramen with a smile.

(622)

Naruto runs into Kiba in the street. Kiba flips him the bird and Naruto blows a raspberry. Akamaru jumps him and Naruto vanishes in a puff of smoke. Naruto runs along the roof tops, Kiba chasing after him.

It's interesting to know that the same taunts still work to make Kiba curse and growl and threaten death like that. Kiba tackles him off a roof and they hit the ground hard. They roll and start fighting.

It's going just fine until Sasuke comes out of nowhere and pulls Kiba back by the collar. "What are you doing, Inuzuka?"

Kina says some interestingly obscene things, but Sasuke just tosses him to the side and smirks arrogantly at Naruto. "These are the people you deal with, dobe?"

Sasuke, just like Naruto, knows exactly which buttons to push. Fuck him. Naruto curses him out, tackles the bastard, and then takes off as Sasuke's eyes go red and black.

(701)

Naruto knocks on Iruka's door. Iruka opens it and stares down at him. Naruto bows and starts his apology for being the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. When he's done he looks up at Iruka expectantly and waits. Iruka just stares at him for another moment and quietly shuts the door.

Later, Kakashi finds him at the bar, swirling a cup of sake. He says nothing about under aged drinking, instead joining him. When they're done Kakashi says, "Give him time. He'll see." It's so very cryptic, so very Kakashi, but Naruto understands.

(779)

Naruto sees Konohamaru run by, cackling madly. Ebisu is on his tail, looking extremely pissed off. Naruto quickly steps in and performs Oiroke no Jutsu. Blood spurts out of Ebisu's nose and he keels backward. Konohamaru grabs him in a big bear, calls him "chief" again, and then they go off in a mission to attack Konoha with pranks.

Later, they get yelled at by Tsunade, but there's a smile twitching at the edge of her mouth and Shizune and Sakura are falling over in laughter outside her office.

(812)

Naruto and Sasuke meet and meet and meet. It is the same banter and the same fighting and gods, Naruto wants everything to be like it did where Sasuke understands and everything is like it was between them. They go out to eat and they fight and they are as they should have been.

Sometimes they'll start fighting outside the Uchiha compound. Fugaku yells at them while Mikoto just smiles matronly at them, eyes warm. Itachi sits outside, eyes hidden behind cloth, and has a sliver of a smile on his face.

Sakura makes a comment one day to Naruto. "I can't believe you've made friends with Sasuke," she exclaims. "He's so…cold."

"I guess," Naruto says and flaps a crane at her.

(883)

Kakashi and Sakura and Naruto go out to eat again. Sasuke gets dragged along with, although his glare tells how he feels about this. They banter and complain and bitch to each other and it as if it is Team Seven all over again. Iruka arrives halfway through, sitting next to Kakashi. He watches Naruto throughout the meal and slowly, very slowly, starts talking to him.

By the end of the dinner, Naruto and Iruka are in a deep conversation, with Kakashi pouting on one side, Sasuke glaring on the other, and Sakura holding back laughter.

(999)

Naruto sits in his new apartment, his strange apartment, and brushes the wings of the hundreds of paper cranes around him. Kyuubi is yelling and cursing at him for his inaction in regards to Uchiha Madara. The tracker is still wrapped tight around his ankle and Naruto tells the fox that Tsunade is going to take it off soon. He's one of the few that can fight Madara.

If only Sasuke…

But he stops the thought there. Sasuke is still a brooding bastard, but he's happy and he still has a family and things are so well. There is another sheet of origami paper in his hands—orange and green frogs and gods, that's so fitting— and he folds it into another, the last, paper crane with the thought of Sasuke's happiness.

If Sasuke's happy, he figures, and sets the crane down.

(1000)

Naruto gets woken with a punch to the face. He lets out a low curse and transports to the other side of the room. He's fighting on instinct, now, and he's taking in things like, I was half asleep. Things like, the sun is just rising. Things like, goddamn you Sasuke, you bastard. When the thought catches up to him, he shouts it at the person attacking him.

Sasuke pauses and sneers at him. "You idiot!" he yells. There is nothing cool or composed about him in this moment. He runs forward and swings his kunai.

Naruto dodges, blows a raspberry, and disappears in a puff of smoke. When Sasuke turns and slams Naruto into the wall, a forearm against Naruto's throat, Sasuke lowly asks, "What the fuck did you do, dobe?"

"What the fuck are you talking about, bastard?" Naruto asks and punches Sasuke in the face.

Sasuke jumps backward, throws out a kick, and slices his kunai forward. "Why is everything changed?"

Sasuke remembers, he realizes, and does not make the dodge. He goes flying backwards.

To prove his point, the sound of a thousand chirping birds fills the room. Naruto scrambles backward as a Chidori gets thrown at his head.

"Fuck you!" Naruto screams and starts gathering chakra in one hand.

"I somehow got sent back by paper cranes because you know what? You were dead and the world was going to hell! I couldn't let that happen!" Sasuke stops midway through a Chidori, crackling sparkling chakra sending fire in his eyes. "I didn't die like I was supposed to. I came back and tried to fix it as best as I could!"

Sasuke gives him a long, cold stare and then disappears. Naruto allows the swirl of Rasengan to flow for another minute and then drops it. He collapses backward and stares up at the blank ceiling.

Three days later, Tsunade removes the tracker around his ankle. "There's Uchiha Madara?" she says.

"Yeah," Naruto agrees and rubs at the raw patch of skin from the tracker. "That's it. He's the only one." Except not. There's Zetsu and god, Kabuto and there's probably so many others out there that he doesn't even know about.

But she nods and lets him go with the order that, as a Konoha shinobi, he has to send letters. She gives him some extra medicine packs and then hands him the Hokage crystal necklace. Smiling, she places it around his neck and says, "Come back alive and I'll tell you why I gave you that, okay?"

He's halfway to the gate when a kunai comes out of nowhere and slices past his head. He starts to run and Sasuke is suddenly at his side, a sword—a fucking sword, damn it!—in one hand, sparkling with chakra. They fight and fight and fight and it's Sasuke Sasuke Sasuke and god, he doesn't want this to end the way it did before.

They fight their way out of Konoha and Naruto notices a bag on Sasuke's back. What the—? But the thought gets kicked out when Sasuke takes a stab at him. They fight and Sasuke's snarl is something like a smile (or his smile is something like a snarl) and it is like how it was before.

And then Sasuke jumps from a fucking tree and tackles Naruto in the air and they go flying. They roll along the ground several times and Sasuke ends up on top.

"What," he starts, all composed like despite the fight, "did you change exactly?"

"I made the Council make a truce with the Uchihas. I stopped Akatsuki from becoming an actual threat. I killed Orochimaru."

The kunai is cool against his throat as Sasuke leans down, glossy bangs slipping forward. "Why?" he breathes.

"You were dead," Naruto says brokenly, anger sharp in the edges. "You were fucking gone and everybody was dying. What else was I supposed to do?"

Sasuke leans forward some more and Naruto can see every fleck of shadowy grey in the eyes. "And now?" he asks quietly.

"There's Uchiha Madara left. That's it," Naruto says.

Sasuke murmurs, "Dobe," and waits for a moment, just staring at Naruto. Then he suddenly pulls back and stands up. "Where are we going to find Madara?"

"WE?" Naruto says loudly, sitting up quickly. "What do you mean 'we'?"

"You're just going to mess it up, dobe," he says arrogantly and Naruto wants to kill him and— "Or get defeated." Pause. "Again."

"Hey, bastard!" Naruto yells as Sasuke starts walking. "This is not your thing! You're a Konoha shinobi—"

"And Tsunade gave me permission," Sasuke interjects. "Deal with it, dobe."

Sasuke starts to run and Naruto joins him. The smirk he throws Naruto is comforting and familiar and it is a promise of the future to come. It seems like they've done this a million times before and now have found the way to continue on. Naruto grins right on back and thinks of the lone paper crane on a familiar bridge in Konoha.


End file.
